Summertime
by Tiiulicious
Summary: Childhood sweethearts meet for the first time in 20 years. And she has a secret that will affect him greatly. One shot - Ric/Claudia


**This is a short, one shot that I did when I saw that Sarah Brown promo on SoapNet. I might transform this into a longer, multi-chapter fic at someone point if my muse kicks in. Anyway, reviews are shiny, made out of love and I really want some! I hope you guys like it.**

**Summertime**

There was a time when promises meant something to her, when she was optimistic and loved. There had been a man who would just wrap his arms around her and made all of her dreams come true. However, he had been taken away from her and she had willed herself into not thinking about him since it was too painful. The she came to Port Charles and found herself standing only a few inches away from her first love. Her only love. The one person who had left an imprint into her heart unlike no other. Other men came and went, but none seemed to affect her like he had.

Ric Lansing. He had not changed one bit, he was still the tall, dark, handsome fantasy prince she had loved passionately 20 years ago. During their 15th summer, they had spent every minute together, falling deep into puppy love. After the summer of a lifetime had ended, his father sent him away to boarding school and her father made sure she knew not to look him up. Suddenly memories started to envelope her…

"_I love you. Now and forever," he whispered in her ear, pulling her closer to him in the tiny bed in his father's boathouse in Martha's Vineyard where they had had their first time two months ago. She looked so beautiful in the moonlight, her dark curls pulled into a ponytail and her brown eyes filled with love every time she looked at him. No one had ever looked at him like she did. His father disapproved, he knew that, but he didn't care. Not when she was in his arms._

"_I'll always love you. Our hearts will always find each other," She said pressing her head on his chest and listened to the beat of his heart that gently soothed her into sleep._

_Next morning when she woke, he had been gone._

She also had secret that had tugged at her heart for 20 years now, her son who knew nothing of his real father and looked at his mother as if she was his sister. That was what she was to him, his reckless passionate older sister who was never around. It killed her not to be able to be mother to her son, but life was not fair and she knew that better than anybody.

She loved him deeply, but her father's influence was too powerful to break. It had been the best for her baby to grow up with her father and her stepmother. It hadn't been until he was five years old that her father had driven her out of his life, only the occasional drawing or a school photo arriving in the mail. Her baby boy had grown so fast, becoming tall and beautiful just like his father and reminding her of everything she might have had if she had not given up on Ric.

"You look like someone I used to know," Ric Lansing said to the woman who had been frozen on the spot behind him. There was something about her that felt so familiar and at the same time so engaging. She had the same golden brown eyes that the girl who still haunted Ric's dreams, but it couldn't be her. She had died years ago in a boating accident at the Cape just before he had been sent to boarding school. Trevor had made sure he had known she was dead, taunting him about it and cruelly laughing at his heart break,

"I get that a lot." She replied coolly, emotions swirling inside her. She wanted to slap him for never finding her, she wanted him to wrap his hands around her in the same comforting manner he did all those years ago, she wanted to kiss him senseless to see if the she felt for him was real and most importantly she wanted to flee before her son would arrive here for their lunch date.

"Sis, I was waiting for you outside. You could have said you wanted to meet inside," A tall, dark haired Johnny Zacchara said slightly annoyed, having stood in the cold Port Charles night for ten minutes waiting to see his sister for the first time in over 8 years.

"Claudia…" Ric said almost silently, almost regretfully and he focused his dark eyes on the woman who had been yanked from his life all those years ago.

"You two know each other?" Johnny quizzed with a surprised look on his face. He didn't think his impulsive, wild child sister would know anyone as high strung as Ric Lansing. The DA hadn't endeared himself to Johnny during his stay in Port Charles and was an annoying presence in his day to day business.

"We used to. A long time ago. One might say almost a whole lifetime ago," Claudia said without breaking her eye contact with Ric. They were looking deep into each other's eyes, as if both had seen a ghost.

"Zacchara, would you mind if I borrowed your sister for a minute? I think we need to catch up," Ric said, guiding her to the side without looking at Johnny. He was too busy memorizing everything about her, comparing the woman standing in front of him to the girl who was an incandescent, unforgettable memory lodged deep into his brain.

"I thought you were dead. My father told me you were dead." Ric stated, still wanting to pinch himself to make sure this beautiful creature was indeed standing few inches away from him and not a figment of his imagination.

"I was dead, dead on the inside for so long. I came back to take control of the Zacchara organization, but I never thought I would find you here." Claudia replied pressing her lips to his and giving him a quick butterfly kiss before walking away from him.

Without a second thought, he raced after her. He was not going to let her go, not when she was finally been brought back to him. She was wearing very high red heels so it wasn't hard for Ric to catch up with her.

"You said that our hearts would always find their way back to each other and now they have. I never stopped believing that one day we would see each other again and this time, I won't let you go."

The End.


End file.
